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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Latest Poll Numbers Examined; GOP Candidates Campaign in New York; Documentary on San Antonio Rape Case Discussed. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired April 15, 2016 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[12:30:02] PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: -- when someone like this is released? I'm not sure that the public would be happy about that.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: I was going to say presumably there would be public outcry for her release. How will that impact the governor's decision? So we will wait to see how it plays out. Paul Callan, thank you very much.

CALLAN: Thank you Pam.

BROWN: And up next, right here on "Legal View" after a couple of rough weeks on the campaign trail for Donald Trump, how are his poll numbers looking? Take a wild guess. We are catching up with Republicans coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Coming off arguably the worst couple of weeks of his campaign, Donald Trump or at least his numbers don't same phase at all. In fact, the Republican frontrunner has widen his national lead according to a new Fox News poll. Take a look.

[12:35:03] The real estate mobile, up four points from last month, topping Ted Cruz, 45 to 27 percent. And just days from New York's GOP primary, Trump appears poised for a landslide victory in the empire state. A Quinnipiac poll showing him with a massive 35 point lead. The New York post says Trump reflects the best of New York values. The newspaper endorsing Trump but also saying that the Republican nominee. Trump will need to soften his tone and be more presidential.

But so far Trump is not toning down his attack on what he calls a rigged political system. In fact, he writes about it in today's "Wall Street Journal" "Let me ask America a question. How has the system been work out for you and your family? I, for one, is not interested in defending a system that for decades has served the interest of political parties at the expense of the people.

Meanwhile, Trump's campaign manager is speaking out to CNN about a recent controversy involving a reporter. Reporter say attorney announcing this week the battery charges would not filed against Corey Lewandowski who's accused of grabbing reporting Michelle Fields by the arm following a press conference. We asked Lewandowski for the reaction to the news he wouldn't be prosecuted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, obviously I'm very pleased. And first and foremost, I want to thank Mr. Trump for his loyalty and his dedication to his staff and to me specifically, because a lesser person another politician would have terminated me on the spot.

And so, I'm so thankful for Mr. Trump and his loyalty me and standing by me in that difficult time. I'm thankful to my colleagues and family as we went through this. And they should have never gotten to this point and I'm glad it's over and I'm glad the Palm Beach County district office put this behind us and we are ready to move forward now.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Where's your level of personal regret for the fact that this happened in the first place, putting yourself in the position, not giving Fields the apologies. She says that she would have accepted at the beginning and made this all go away. How much of it is on you?

LEWANDOWSKI: Well, let me say this, you know, that night is never reported but I called Michelle Fields because I didn't know what happened honestly. And the interaction with Michelle Fields lasted in some total about three seconds of my entire life. I never met her before and the only time I've ever interacted with her was on that videotape.

And three seconds may sound like a long time. But it wasn't brief interaction and it wasn't memorable to me and I'm sorry about that. But that evening after I read her boyfriend's Twitter account saying that something that occurred. I made a phone call to Michelle. And I never heard back and to this day I've never heard back from Michelle.

So it's not that we didn't try reach out to the bottom of it. It seems that she wanted to inject herself into make it a story and I'm glad the story is over.

CUOMO: She said she never heard from you. She says this apology thing has never happened. Is she going to hear from you again?

LEWANDOWSKI: Well look, here's what I said. You know, I have no reason to hate anybody and I want to bring everybody together. We want to move on past this. You know if we want to be successful as a party and Donald Trump as a campaign we want to bring people together and focus our attention on winning the general election in November that's what we want to do.

CUOMO: Apologize or no?

LEWANDOWSKI: Look again, I reached out to Michelle and provided my phone records to show that. And never once at anytime in the incident has she contacted the campaign directly. And that's the disappointing part. Because she had the opportunity to clear this up and if she wanted to have a conversation she could have reached out to me directly or the office. That never took place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Meantime, Ohio Governor John Kasich is hitting the campaign trail in the Empire State today four days ahead of the presidential primary there. Kasich is sitting a distant second to Donald Trump in New York according to the latest poll.

But former New York Governor George Pataki giving Kasich his endorsement says he believes Kasich is the only candidate who can beat Hillary Clinton. Kasich shared a similar message with the crowd at the town hall even in Watertown, New York, earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN KASICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let me ask you, sir, one little question, do you think the Yankees are going to win the World Series this year? Maybe. Now what kind of answer is that? Come on. Hope springs eternal. Did I give you little bit there for you to hear how this works? So I want you to have a little perspective. To whether I win or not, OK. I just -- and by the way, I don't know if you know this, I'm the only Republican that consistently beats Hillary Clinton in the fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Meanwhile, Ted Cruz also set to rally supporters with a stop near Syracuse this afternoon. Cruz coming off a cold reception at last night GOP gala. He broke the ice with some laughs on late night receiving a phone call from a fake Donald Trump on Jimmy Fallon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hello.

JIMMY FALLON, AS DONALD TRUMP: Congratulations. You've just been called by Donald Trump.

CRUZ: Hello, Donald. What a pleasant surprise.

FALLON: Are you watching the Democratic debate?

CRUZ: Nope. I'm watching "The Princess Bride" for the 843rd time.

FALLON: Inconceivable. Well, you're missing great stuff. They nailed Hillary for flip-flopping on trade. She was going back and forth, this way and that away, this way. It was like watching her swipe the metro card at the subway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:40:11] BROWN: All right. Will coming up in the next hour, Wolf Blitzer will talk to the chair of the Republican, Democratic National Committee. Reince Priebus and Debbie Wasserman Schultz. That's on "Wolf" starting at 1:00 p.m. eastern.

Well, former stars of up "The Apprentice" are speaking out today saying Donald Trump should not be president. One of them joining me live up next to explain why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, some people who know Donald Trump personally, as much as you can know your reality show boss personally, they are saying today that he is not the man to be president of the United States. Six men and women all alumni of the TV show "The Apprentice," spoke to reporters today in New York and used words like sexism, xenophobia, unpatriotic, lazy, referring to the Republican front-runner who's heavily favored to win the New York primary and an inching closer to the GOP nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:45:00] TARA DOWDELL, FORMER "APPRENTICE" CONTESTANT": I am deeply concern and disturbed by the impact of Donald Trump's divisiveness on our nation. We've seen violence at a multitude of his rallies. We've seen his supporters cheer and encourage violence. We've seen him refuse to condemn the violence. And he talks about how he wants to make America great again. Well, I think America is pretty darn great as it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So Marshawn Evans Daniels is one of those outspoken former "Apprentice" contestant. Thank you for coming on Marshawn.

MARSHAWN EVANS DANIELS, FORMER "APPRENTICE" CONTESTANT: Thank you for having me.

BROWN: So you are on the show back in 2005, Season 4. and you're one fan of Donald Trump at point. You were drawn to be on "The Apprentice" in part because of him, right? What happened? Tell us about your personal interactions.

DANIELS: Well, you know, yes I was on almost 11 years ago now. And at the time we lived in a different landscape and what currently what we're in right now. I was drawn to "The Apprentice" for the same reason that hundreds of thousands of people were drawn to apply to be on that show, which was his charisma. Which was his track record of success and the fact that he stood for in aspect of the American dream, which is the idea you can make your own way, you can make as much as you want, you can help as many people as you want.

And I'm the competitor. I had just come out of being at Georgetown University Law School. I was in Miss America competition the top finalist, I was competitive baton twirler growing up.

So my point is I love competition and he represented the idea of winning, the idea of being successful and to prove yourself with some of the best and brighter in the country. So that is what initially drew me to the show.

BROWN: But do you not think he has the same ideals, the ideals of winning and being competitive and being successful? DANIELS: Oh, absolutely. There's no doubt that Trump likes to win and Trump will win by any means necessary. You know, my firm belief is that character without. Well, I should say confidence without character produces chaos. And he's an extremely charismatic. He's extremely confident. And that's hypnotic.

I mean, I've been in the room with him when I auditioned to be on the show. My season was actually pretty unique because Donald Trump personally decided that he wasn't happy with the cast the year before. He wanted to be involved in the casting process. So I sat down, just a few feet away, across from him. No board room table, just a small room and had the opportunity to answer his questions. And he wore a signature pink tie and had the hair that were all his infamously known for.

And there is something about his personality that is absolutely magnetic. The problem is when you use your influence and I think influence is something that comes with responsibility but when you use it in a way that is self serving. I think that represents the smallest of small qualities that a person could choose to endeavoring.

BROWN: So Donald Trump heard your complaints and he responded earlier this week calling you all "Failing wannabes." He also said you should be careful. Are you nervous at all about any kind of backlash from him?

DANIELS: You know I'm not nervous. There were other individuals who were invited to be a part of the stance at the six apprenti took that were involve different races and backgrounds. And I think many of them were nervous and they were scared.

And the reason that I chose to stand out, number one or step up and speak out. Number one, is because it is not just an opportunity it's a duty. I'm think he looks at this as -- first of all, he looks at himself as having the Midas touch. As though his presence and my opportunity to meet him contributed to the fact that I'm a Georgetown Law School scholar, contributed to the fact that I run my own multimillion-dollar company that I started from scratch. I don't remember any fee money from the Trump organization, I don't remember being able to pick up the phone and having advice on what deal to make, it is not like I had him involved in my level of success.

To call us names is indicative of the type of childishness and he engages in. And I'm not worried about it. Because I believe that we have a responsibility. A responsibility as a woman, I have a responsibility as a woman of color, and I have a responsibility as a woman of color of faith.

And each of those categories that I fall in to necessitates that I speak up. What I would say is for people who don't speak up, what does that say about you, about say about your values, and about is it say about the country that we are going to leave behind for our future generations?

BROWN: All right, Marshawn Evan Daniels, thank you for coming on.

DANIELS: Thank you.

[12:49:27] BROWN: And just ahead, right here on "Legal View" four women released from prison after accused of sexually assaulting two young girls more than 20 years ago. But their fight to clear their name is far from over.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, four Texas women who spent more than a decade in prison after being convicted of horrific crimes are fighting to clear their names. The San Antonio four were accused of raping two girls in what was described as a drug-fuelled satanical rage. Well head a new documentary about the case that premieres tonight. The group says just being released doesn't go far enough.

Here's CNN's Jean Casarez.

ANNA VASQUEZ, CLAIMS INNOCENCE: I was in complete shock. I could not believe they convicted us. I still can't, you know, I was talking about this, it's bringing everything back. And it's still difficult to accept that that we lost nearly 20 years of our lives for a crime that was never committed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So happy to be home.

CASSANDRA RIVERA, CLAIMS INNOCENCE: It was very emotional. I met my grand baby for the first time. I was able to hug my family outside of prison or a jail, you know. It's indescribable.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORESPONDENT: Accused and convicted of rape in 1997 and 1998, the San Antonio four still can't quite comprehend what happened. Their case began in the summer of '94 when Elizabeth Ramirez's nieces ages 7 and 9 came to stay with Liz and her friends at Ramirez his home in San Antonio.

[12:55:12] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it just a typical week. Just what families do we did things, we went o to the park.

CASAREZ: Prosecutors painted a different story. In this court document, obtained by CNN, the little girls claim they were raped during a drug-fuelled satanical rage with a gun pointed at their heads. They say the four women held them down, inserting objects, sexually assaulting them.

And where there fun and games happening and they took those innocent fun and games and made them into something else?

VASQUEZ: Absolutely not.

CASAREZ: All four women testified in their own defense.

RIVERA: To sit there and have to defend yourself against something like that, knowing that it such a horrible crime and people are looking at you, like, you know, you are awful.

CASAREZ: You sat there as your nieces testified against you? What was that like?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was like, where did they get it from.

CASAREZ: Their attorney Mike Ware says this was a classic miscarriage of justice brought about by a panic over the women's lifestyle and a rush to judgment.

MIKE WARE, ATTORNEY, INNOCENCE PORJECT OF TEXAS: I think really the only reason that the investigation was seriously pursued, why there wasn't more skepticism about preposterous allegations in the first place was because these four women had recently come out as gay.

CASAREZ: But prosecutors said their lifestyle was a motive, and the science backed it up. At trial, pediatrician Dr. Nancy Kellogg testified that internal scars were caused by physical trauma. It was critical testimony. Former Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed later admitted the medical science presented at trial was wrong.

SUSAN REED, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: I think it was believed, at that time, that that was evidence of scarring from a tear and that it would have been indicative of a sexual assault. There's been further studying of those kinds of photographs, which has led to information that can occur naturally.

CASAREZ: Additionally one of the girls came forward in 2012 to say she lied at the trial. An advocate for the San Antonio four got that call.

DEBBIE NATHAN, NATIONAL CENTER FOR REASON AND JUSTICE: When she came on the phone and she said my name is Stephanie. It didn't happen. I have no memory of it ever happening. I've gone through my mind for years, and all I remember is having had a good time when I was over at my aunt Liz's.

CASAREZ: Now with the trial court recommending the verdicts to be overturned and with prosecutors reportedly saying they don't foresee retrying the cases. The women are asking a Texas court for one last thing

RIVERA: I believe that we deserve to be known as innocent. You know, it was a terrible injustice. We're not going to give up until we are found innocent. We're going to keep fighting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And Jean Casarez is joining us now. So Jean, you mentioned in the piece that one of the girls who's now an adult has come out and recanted her story. What about the other one?

CASAREZ: The other one has not come forward. She hasn't talked to law enforcement at all. So that's one of the reasons the trial judge did not determine them to be innocent as a matter of law, and what's happening now is the women are in San Antonio. They are working, leading a normal life. The trial judge just said that he recommends that these verdicts be overturned, but in Texas, it is the Texas court of criminal appeals that makes the final determination. And so, the women are waiting for that and they also say that they want to be innocent as a matter of law because they did not commit these crimes.

BROWN: And the documentary "Southwest of Salem, the San Antonio Four" premiers tonight at Tribeca. What can you tell us about that?

CASAREZ: It really chronicles their years in prison. Cameras went into prison, they talk as they are incarcerated about the fact they didn't do this and what happened to their lives. And I think the title is interesting "Southwest of Salem," as in Salem witch-hunts. San Antonio Four premiers tonight in New York City at the Tribeca Film Festival.

BROWN: And just lastly Jean, what is it they really want? You said it's not enough for their convictions to be overturned. What are they really looking for here?

CASAREZ: I think the reason they want to be declared innocent is when a conviction is overturned that mean there is not enough evidence to find them guilty. It doesn't mean they didn't commit the crime. They want to be known as innocent because they could have taken plea deals in this case, really good plea deals and they didn't because they said we didn't commit a crime.

And so, they spent 15 to 17 years in prison and now they want to be known as what they are in their mind, innocent of any crime.

BROWN: Truly a remarkable story. Jean Casarez, thank you very much for that report.

And thank you so much for watching "Legal View" on this Friday. Great to have along with us.

[13:00:01] "Wolf" starts now.

BERNIE SANDERS, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What Secretary Clinton have the experience and the intelligence to be --